This vertical turntable with an 'optical' stylus is the futuristic, minimalist vinyl spinner I dreamed of as a kid

• The Miniot Wheel 3 has stunning sci-fi looks and genuinely clever design
• Optical stylus, hidden tonearm and integrated preamplifier
• €2,900 / $3,443 / £2,550 / AU$5,351

The new Miniot Wheel 3 is exactly what I expected the music hardware of 2025 to look like when I was growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s: I knew that in 2025 my enormous, airy and affordable apartment on the moon would be filled with friendly robots, holographic televisions and vertical vinyl. So it's nice to be proved right about one of those things, at least.

As the name suggests, the Miniot Wheel 3 is the third generation of Miniot's vertical vinyl player. And there's some clever tech to match the retro-futuristic design.

A turntable that looks wheely good

This isn't the only vertical turntable around: we've seen various models since the 1980s, and among the current crop you'll find Pro-Ject with its VTE vertical turntable and last year's Fuse Audio Kickstarter, which looked impressive.

But this is a much more premium model, with a price tag to match: it's listed at €2,900 / $3,443 / £2,550 / AU$5,351.

Miniot says that the stylus is optical. It's not a laser – it's a diamond stylus – but instead of using of magnets or coils to convert the vibrations the stylus reads into an audio signal, it uses an optical sensor.

The stylus is teamed with an optical sensor-controlled direct drive motor and an integrated preamplifier. There's a hidden tonearm beneath the record that moves vertically from bottom to center, and the Wheel 3 can be laid flat, hung on a wall or stood on its stand.

Although pre-orders began in May, I haven't been able to find any reviews of the Wheel 3 – but there are some reviews of the previous model on YouTube from the likes of Techmoan, who wasn't particularly enthusiastic or damning: it was an impressive bit of design and unlike anything else on the market, but audiophiles would likely get more mileage from something more traditional and affordable.

But then, you don't buy a record player like this for its sound. You buy it to blend in with the rest of your apartment on the moon.

The Miniot Wheel 3 is available now from miniot.com. US, Australian and UK orders are expected to ship in around 10 weeks.

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